Thursday, August 30, 2007

This succulent dish has all the things I love in a recipe; an easy piece of meat to work with, a super simple sauce that tastes like something that took hours, and the classic flavor combination of hot/tangy with sweet/fruity.

Our meat choice, the pork tenderloin, is one of the most user-friendly cuts ever. It requires about 3 minutes of trimming and you’re ready to rock. The sauce is made in the pan after the meat is cooked and the sweet and tangy fruit sauce pairs perfectly with the spicy black pepper crust on the pork. Since most of these tenderloins are pretty standard size at about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds each, 20 minutes at 375F after a good sear in the pan is going to give you a perfect medium almost every time.

By the way, you can use any vinegar and fruit preserve in this recipe and it will be great, although there is something about cherry and black pepper that’s magical. Enjoy!

Great looking recipe!! I will try this over the weekend. Thank You for making cooking FUN and enjoyable for everyone!! Hope you will do demo's on some side-dishes like potatoes au-gratin or mac & cheese. I can never get those 'right', baking or cooking with cheese must be an art cause I can't seem to bring myself to use that awful velveeta stuff.

Hi Chef John, anonymous "cb" here from the other day w/ paul mccartney.... I am having problems with paypal. Can I send donations another way, or to a PO box? If no--I will find a way to work with paypal..

Got my LaCrusette today--and I cannot decide on a recipe--sheperds pie..thai beef stew--ah the choices! Thanks again for bringing the joy of cooking back and making this about the deliciousness in food... -cb

Looks great ... and I like tenderloins, but is there ever a time you would choose to use a loin instead of tenderloin? Why or why not? If you would - would you change the technique? Do you keep a couple of jars of jam/jelly on hand to make sauces? Which are your standards, cherry? apricot? Others?

Thanks...

Regarding PayPal - I've just never liked it. More options for payment may mean more payment:)

I made this dish last Saturday night and it turned out beautifully. Alas, my girlfriend doesn't care for meat/fruit pairings but I sure do so she tolerates me as she does eat well courtesy of me. I paired it with scalloped potatos which worked out nicely. Thanks!!

The minute I saw this recipe posted, I knew I absolutely had to try the reduction. I didn't have any tenderloin on hand, so I crusted some center cut pork chops with the pepper (with some added sage) and served the Black Cherry reduction as a sauce over those. We just finished eating them, and my mouth is watering again. I am one of those people that LOVE fruit/meat combos. I served them with the Easy Cheesy Potato Grattan (sp?) you posted a while back (which has become a frequent flyer in my house). Thanks!!!

I'm planning to serve this to guests tomorrow. It looks and sounds wonderful! So what wine would YOU serve with this? We're thinking a syrah or pinot noir but value your opinion. Oh, yeah, I finally cleaned my house.

we had the pork tenderloin with the black cherry reduction last night and the plate was literally wiped clean! It was so-o-o-o-o delicious. I used balsamic vinegar in the sauce and we found a 1989 Bin555 Australian shiraz (Wyndham) in our cellar and it was outstanding. Thanks for your great recipe.

Hi Chef John, another big thanks to you for your web blog! Just tried this last night and it sure did rock! My dinner guest just loved it! This time, my tenderloin came out juicy, and not the least bit dry, even though I made it well done. Also, the pan sauce was awesome! I think several things helped this be so great, I got a good sear, so good amount of caramelization was had, not to mention the magic of the black pepper and black cherries. I also used good quality preserves and made sure to do the monte-beurre.

Was wondering if instead of roasting, I cut the tenderloin into thin slices, then sauté it, then make the pan sauce and then poaching the sliced tenderloin in the pan sauce?

This recipe was so easy and it turned out great. I didn't have black cherry preserves but I did have some russian blackcurrant jam that I used instead and it was the most amazing sauce I've made it awhile. I like the idea of the butter at the end. I'm keeping that one.

I just made this recipe... At first I though it was a little spicy, but that sauce was great. I did it with strawberry-blackberry jam..! Gracias Chef..! (From Venezuela, Latin America). I'll make this recipe for my College graduation, 15days from now.! =)

Excellent! We just found your site- and watch the vids via laptop in the Kitchen as we cook. My girlfriend is the chef of the family, but your vids are helping me kick it up a notch. We will be trying this again with varying fruits (and I think we went overboard on the pepper)

Just made this (1/2 recipe) for myself & husband, who gave it 4 stars!!!! Served with rosemary/olive oil roasted potato wedges and green beans/almonds/shallots and inexpensive Colores del Sol Cab! Hope this is in an upcoming cookbook!

So funny just tooling about on the net and came across this recipe. Cooking small boneless tenderloin roast for the very first time. I'm doing a pineapple mandarine soy garlic marinade and cooking roast with it to use as basting sauce as well. My sides are white swan squash and baked potatoes...can't wait to taste it!

Hello,This is the second pork tenderloin recipe I've tried here and while I love the fruit/meat combo and ease of your recipes, the vinegar taste and smell in both recipes is way, way too strong for my taste. I'm not ready to give up yet though. Would you recommend reducing the amount of the vinegar, or using wine instead? If wine, what kind? Thanks much!